


Kuroo's Guide: How to tame an Omega (or how to get tamed)

by DieroteRosine



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alpha Bokuto Koutarou, Alpha Kuroo Tetsurou, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Banter, Beta Akaashi Keiji, Beta Kozume Kenma, Beta Yamaguchi Tadashi, Canon Compliant, Courting Rituals, Flirting, Hijinks & Shenanigans, LunaNoir-Krtsk-Fest, M/M, Marvel References, Omega Tsukishima Kei, Omega Verse, Protective Kuroo Tetsurou, Romantic Comedy, Trainingscamp Tokyo, Volleyball Dorks in Love, dinosaur puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26543674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DieroteRosine/pseuds/DieroteRosine
Summary: Tsukishima Kei was annoyed.Not that it was an unknown or even rare condition, but on this day the whole world seemed to have conspired against him.The blonde Omega was sitting in their team bus with furrowed eyebrows, the headphones turned up to full volume and was trying to ignore his surroundings.It was one thing to have to spend time with volleyball playing idiots in school, but that he should now spend a whole precious week of his peaceful high school life in a training camp in Tokyo didn't really make sense to him.Especially since this Trainingscamp would include the meeting of at least a dozen of new Alphas - a thought that couldn't sound less appealing to Tsukishima.But it was just a week. He would be fine. Probably.______It's time for the Tokyo Trainingscamp and Tsukishima, a proud and cold Omega, collides with an unknown Alpha on their first evening there.A fateful meeting or just an accident?
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 44
Kudos: 419
Collections: Luna & Noir: KuroTsuki Fest 2020





	1. ~ 1 ~

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my entry for the LunaNoir-Krtsk-Festival with the Prompt #27.

Tsukishima Kei was annoyed.

Not that it was an unknown or even rare condition, but on this day the whole world seemed to have conspired against him.

The blonde Omega was sitting in their team bus with furrowed eyebrows, the headphones turned up to full volume and was trying to ignore his surroundings.

It was one thing to have to spend time with volleyball playing idiots in school, but that he should now spend a whole precious week of his peaceful high school time in a training camp in Tokyo didn't really make sense to him.

Obviously, objection was pointless from the moment the idiot duo, consisting of the king and Chibi, had heard about the camp and since then had been telling the team in an almost endless stereo _"how incredibly great this camp would be"_ and _" what awesome players they would get to know."_

If someone had asked Tsukishima what he thought of the whole thing, to suddenly be confronted with over two dozen new players and probably at least a dozen unknown Alphas - he would've told everyone in a calm but firm tone, that he would rather be in a locked room for whole night with two dozen Hinatas, than having to breathe the testosterone-polluted air of the Nekomas gyms for an hour.

But nobody asked him, so it was no wonder that Tsukishima continued to fall into his bus seat with a deathly look and music at the volume of a small disco on his ears, ignoring Yamaguchi's amused smile when the third time that day “Old Town Road” played over the loudspeakers and Tanaka danced up and down the bus aisle with Nishinoya in tow.

One week, _it was only one week_.

With that mantra in his head and a sudden hearing loss in his ears, Tsukishima saw the Tokyo Tower looming in the distance and took a deep breath.

He would be fine.

On some days Tsukishima wondered if he had pissed off any god in his previous life.

If he had forgotten to eat up the night before, or if he had accidentally not helped a grandma across the street - because goddamn, he had to do something momentous that someone apparently wanted to try and ruin his life in this one tiny little week.

About 15 minutes after arriving in Tokyo, Tsukishima's headphones had died - Hinata had bumped into him as he got out and Ennoshita hadn't been able to react quickly enough before he accidentally stepped on them and the white, expensive, noise-canceling headphones had bitten the dust.

Tsukishima's face as white as chalk seemed to be reason enough for Ennoshita to apologize to the blonde all day, promising to get him new headphones.

But only when they were back in Sendai and according to Tsukishima's approximate calculation that was about _6 days, 21 hours and 34 minutes_ away.

A far too long time that he couldn't possibly spend without his beloved headphones, because what none of his teammates knew or even suspected - these headphones weren't just used to fill his ears with P!ATD at any time of the day, no, they were also kept pushing people off his neck with a certain regularity.

There was almost nothing more off-putting for overzealous alphas or brave betas than a disinterested looking Omega, calmly putting on the headphones in front of their eyes and, with a demonstrative wave, turning the music so loud that he couldn't possibly hear a single sound from them.

Because even if Tsukishima saw himself as _human become "no interest" sign_ , in his short high school life enough alphas hadn't understood the obvious signs and tried to flirt with him.

Yamaguchi had happily sat next to quite a few of these encounters, waving at the rejected alpha afterwards before putting a small note on a list that he solemnly called the _"Tsukki-doesn't-like-Alphas list"._

The fact that Tsukishima was now for another _6 days, 21 hours and 30 minutes_ without protective headphones in the presence of several, strange, overzealous Alphas, once again supported his assumption that he must've been cursed.

"Tsukki, you have to see the whole thing in a positive light.", grinned Yamaguchi next to him and punched his friend playfully on the shoulder.

"Now you finally have no excuse more to avoid all the Alphas and maybe right now you will run into your future dream prince."

Tsukishima acknowledged this insane statement with a scowl and a short snort.

“Have you watched too many Disney movies again, Yamaguchi? In the _normal_ world, your _“dream prince”_ doesn't just run into you randomly and besides - “, he wrinkled his nose, “if you could smell what I'm smelling right now, you would reconsider your statement, it fucking stinks of Alphas.”

His best friend continued to smile and didn't let himself be stopped from singing “Let it go” dramatically and in the most crooked tones, until Tsukishima silenced him with an exasperated “God shut up, Olaf!”.

“But seriously, Tsukki, think about it. Wouldn't it be exciting not to always say no? Maybe afterwards you will meet the love of your life while eating and you will ignore them because you are a stubborn donkey and an uptight Omega."

"Uptight? Me?", snorted Tsukishima and although he knew that Yamaguchi only wanted to annoy him, he couldn't help but be really indignant.

There was silence for a moment and then Yamaguchi looked at him crookedly from the side. “Well, you're not really relaxed, Tsukki. I don't understand why all the alphas keep coming to you, you're so frosty that Kageyama asked me last week if you could make milk ice cream out of his milk in your presence."

"Excuse me, what?!"

"His words, not mine." Yamaguchi shrugged his shoulders and thoughtfully began to twirl one of his hair strands between his fingers while they followed the rest of the team back to their accommodation.

Again a meaningful silence formed between them and Tsukishima couldn't help but kick every little stone in front of him, endlessly annoyed.

 _Yes_ , he wasn't necessarily the nicest, _yes_ , Alphas had cried around him, _yes_ , maybe because of what he said to them, but that was completely normal, right?

Just because he was an Omega he didn't have to say yes and amen to every Alpha, that would be completely insane.

As if Yamaguchi had read his mind, the Beta started again: "It's not about you having to agree to every Alpha, nobody asked you to, but you're sometimes really mean to them."

"Oh yeah?", Tsukishima snorted and for a moment had the wish to defiantly cross his arms over his chest.

"Yes." Yamaguchi shook his head with a grin and then thought for a moment before rummaging in his trouser pocket, pulling out the legendary "list".

Tsukishima gave him a confused look. "Why do you have it with you?"

"Hello? We're here for a whole week, you're a pretty Omega and I noticed already four Alphas staring at your ass on the short walk to our rooms. What better way would I have than this week to expand this list and maybe reach the milestone of 50?", grinned his friend and added with an even wider grin: “Something like that has to be celebrated. Maybe I'll bake a cake that says _"Tsukishima Kei - Heartbreaker"_ or, even better, _"50 first rejections."_ That would be something."

Tsukishima snorted and rolled his eyes as Yamaguchi, in a low, yet very solemn voice, began to read out all the names and notes that had accumulated on his list.

Just as he was about to remind Tsukishima of how he had rejected a college junior while eating ice cream two weeks ago, they suddenly bumped into a tall figure and Tsukishima gasped as the sudden impact made him stumble backwards.

The arms, which just kept him from an extremely embarrassing fall, jerked the blonde forward and so it happened that Tsukishima Kei landed face first in the broad chest of an Alpha.

And with this a stone started rolling, which should turn into a whole avalanche within a few days and throw his small, quiet Omega life upside down.

Kuroo Tetsurou was strangely calm.

With a dreamy stupid grin on his face, the team captain of Nekoma crouched next to his best friend Kenma, apparently listening to the shallow chatter of his other teammates, staring absently into the air, before Kenma's finger snap brought him back to the here and now.

"Just because the training is over for today, you don't have to put your brain into standby mode, Tetsu.", The blonde mumbled and almost at the same time went back to his game, which he had brought with him especially for Hinata.

Kuroo cocked his head, the half grin still plastered on his face and he sighed deeply, dramatically and completely exaggerated, so that Kenma gave him another look.

"What's up with you?"

"I saw an angel.", Kuroo muttered absently and Kenma wrinkled his nose - angels and everything that had to do with them were not really his wavelength and for a moment the blonde wondered if he should just ignore Kuroo's comment and continue playing, hoping to put the subject aside.

But Kuroo wouldn't be Kuroo if he hadn't already prepared half a recitation about his world of emotions and now stopped his best friend from his “Haikyuu - Final Quest” speed run with all the unimportant details.

“... and then he just ran into me and believe me Kenma, I've never smelled anything like _that._ If he hadn't looked at me as if I were responsible for the evil in the entire world, I would've just kissed him then and there immediately."

Kenma wasn't sure if his brain had blocked out half of all information as a precaution, but Kuroo's words didn't make any understandable sense to him.

He let out a little gasp and looked away from his console again, even if he regretted this step almost instantly, so much irritated him the absent-minded look on his best friend's face.

Who or whatever was responsible for this misdeed of emotional chaos of Kuroo, he would have to do something as soon as possible, before Kuroo's last brain cells would concentrate on writing horrific love songs and possibly even performing them publicly.

Kenma remembered with horror Kuroo's first crush in high school - the black-haired man had read a poem to his team every bloody day for two whole weeks - self-written, of course - and then wanted to hear a detailed opinion from them.

That was one of those days when Kenma had vowed that, if Kuroo ever fell in love again, he would shift all responsibility to his other "best bro" Bokuto and his better half Akaashi. For no money in the world would he endure this lovesick Alpha with his terrible poems again.

So he listened to Kuroo for a few more minutes while the black-haired man gave absolutely confusing facts about a "blonde angel (?)" and actually made Kenma doubt his sanity, because in his opinion they had no angel among the newcomers and certainly not a blonde.

He somehow remembered a tall blonde Omega that Hinata had told him about, but according to Hinata he was "an asshole, incapable of normal human conversation, ice cold and cynical" and that couldn't possibly be the blonde angel just mentioned, right?

Even a man like Kuroo would be able to tell an asshole apart from an angel - although Kenma remembered too well that Kuroo had dated a guy from Nohebi for a while and that guy was a damn snake, so he had to expect the worst.

While Kuroo was just explaining how _"absolutely brilliant those blond hair was and these glasses, he had to be a god sent being"_ , Kenma dug his phone out of his pocket and sent a virtual call for help to Bokuto and Akaashi, hoping as soon as possible possible to be rescued from this flood of love smacking.

And as if Bokuto was only a few meters away from their door - which was probably not even completely unrealistic - a short time later a loudly hooting owl in the form of the team leader from Fukurodani stormed into their room and dragged Kuroo with him without contradiction.

The entire Nekomas team gave each other brief, questioning glances, then shrugged their shoulders in unison and went back to whatever they had been doing before.

With the final thought that it would be far too easy to kidnap one of them if the reactions were always like this, Kenma turned back to his speed run and now calmly leveled the orange-haired fighter, who suspiciously resembled a certain middle blocker from Karasuno.

Kuroo couldn't react that fast, because Bokuto had already thrown him half over his shoulder and was now walking with him down a dark corridor.

"Bo, where are we going?", The black-haired Alpha tried to find out their destination, but the other Alpha only stomped faster to a small door in front of them.

Not a moment later Kuroo suddenly found himself behind this very door on a chair and was blinded with a phone flashlight.

"Bo, what the hell?"

"Who is this angel you are talking about? And no lies!“

Kuroo raised both eyebrows confused.

"Huh? What?"

Bokuto waved a hand around his face wildly. "Akaashi, he “huh-t” at me? I don't think the questioning works that way, he's too good for me!”

"Wow Bokuto, you asked him _one_ question and just gave up, what kind of bad cop are you?"

This came from the side and Kuroo immediately recognized the voice as Akaashi's, who now stepped out of the shadow of a shelf and with a sigh switched on the large ceiling light.

Confused, Kuroo stared back and forth between the couple and suddenly wondered why he was sitting on a chair in a broom closet being blinded by a flashlight.

Akaashi ran a hand through his hair and then smiled apologetically. "Sorry for this scene, but your little Nekoma shadow has just written us a message asking us for immediate help."

Again Kuroo could only tilt his head in question. "Huh?"

“Oh God Kuroo, please don't pretend to be more stupid than you actually are. Kenma wrote us about a "blonde angel" with whom you apparently texted him the whole evening and since we both - ", he pointed to himself and Bokuto, “are the only ones who can handle your strange attitudes, when when it comes to sudden declarations of love, he has requested our services."

"Yep!" Bokuto grinned proudly and the Alpha put one arm on his hip while he put the other around Akaashi's shoulder. "After all, we're the only couple in your pathetic circle of friends and thus the absolute professionals in this field."

Akaashi seemed to consider for a moment whether to contradict his boyfriend, but then left it with a half-hearted nod and then they both stared at Kuroo again invitingly.

"So -", the black-haired Beta addressed Kuroo, "say, who is the blonde angel and how high are the chances that you have not only imagined the “incredible attraction” between you two?"

Kuroo wanted to point out indignantly that he had never "imagined" attraction, but was held back by Akaashi's cool gaze, thinking for a moment before opening his mouth.

With short sentences he summarized the situation for the other two and when he had finished talking about how the blonde Omega had stared at him in complete disgust and Kuroo had decided at that very moment that he fell head over heels for him, the reactions couldn't have been more different.

While Akaashi's forehead was deeply furrowed and he seemed to seriously consider how he could make it clear to Kuroo in the most friendly way that he would've absolutely no chance with "such" an Omega, Bokuto just beamed with euphoria and began to squeeze Kuroo's shoulders.

“That is absolutely perfect! An ice-cold angel! Just like in the movie, Ku! And you have to win his heart over and not die in the process, like this guy at the end of the film! And then you become a super cynical couple and kill anyone who gets in your way! Oh my god!", he waved around wildly, “your pups! They will be beautiful! 'kaashi we absolutely have to make sure that Kuroo gets his ice-cold angel!"

Akaashi's facial expression clearly reflected that he had actually intended to say exactly the opposite of what was gushing unfiltered out of Bokuto's mouth and Kuroo could almost smell Akaashi's uncertainty, but after a moment the Beta recovered, shrugging his shoulders .

"Tomorrow at breakfast let's first watch from a distance what kind of guy the Omega is and then we'll see."

With one last look at his Alpha, he added. "And until this we won't do anything - no spontaneous robber leaders to break into Karasuno's dormitory and if I catch one of you two making his way to Blondie tonight, the three of us will have a problem with each other."

The two alphas saluted in front of Akaashi and it was a done deal – the mission “Blonde Angel” would start the next morning.


	2. ~ 2 ~

Tsukishima stared blankly at his scrambled eggs, poking around in it murderously for a good 5 minutes until the last of his bacon had dissolved into small crumbs.

The look Yamaguchi gave him couldn't have been more inappropriate - Tsukishima's best friend grinned to himself, spooned his breakfast with a broad smile and looked all in all more than satisfied with himself and the world.

After another two minutes of angry carving food on the part of Tsukishima and happy grin from Yamaguchi, the thread of patience broke in the blonde Omega.

He turned to the Beta slowly and with a devastating twitch of eyebrows.

"What are you doing there?"

If Tsukishima's voice otherwise sounded cool and repellent, then everything in his immediate vicinity should have frozen to ice immediately, so frostily he pressed out the question.

Yamaguchi, on the other hand, didn't seem to care in the least about this fact, because he continued to beam happily at Tsukishima and insisted on giggling quietly.

"Me? I'm just in a good mood, you should try it from time to time, Tsukki. "

He pulled the "Tsukki" long and tilted his head, grinning, when the addressed Omega gave him a withering look and grumbled to himself.

“Oh good mood then? And what has brightened your mind, if I may ask?"

"You can.", Yamaguchi beamed and then nodded his head imperceptibly to the newcomers in the cafeteria, who had been eating their breakfast two tables away from them for a few minutes.

Tsukishima didn't even have to look to know who was sitting within earshot of them.

The realization of this elicited an annoyed snort and half a growl from the Omega before turning to Yamaguchi, glaring at him warningly.

"Are you fucking serious? Is that why you have this exaggerated good mood? I could cry more if I'm honest and you sit here, enjoying my suffering."

"Pffft Tsukki, so melodramatic in the early morning." Yamaguchi clicked his tongue and then wiggled his eyebrows slightly.

"I just enjoy sitting in the front row at the beginning of your amazing relationship, you know?"

If Tsukishima hadn't already expected a really stupid answer, he would probably have just stared at the Beta in astonishment, but since Yamaguchi had not stopped raving about this "fateful encounter" since their collision with the Alpha yesterday, he already had expected the madness.

Instead, the blonde massaged the bridge of his nose while he closed his eyes and tried to wish himself far, _far_ away.

"What exactly gives you the conviction that this -" he stared angrily at the black-haired Alpha, " _guy_ is my" fateful encounter" and not just a stupid accident, huh?"

“Oh good that you ask”, Yamaguchi rummaged in his pocket and fished out his “list” for the second time within a few hours, “I took the trouble once and transcribed all interactions with interested Alphas and Betas to create an action pattern for you.”

Tsukishima stared at him perplexed and asked after a far too long pause. "Well, somehow you have nothing else to do than turn my love life into a scientific study?"

His friend snorted and waved him off. “Who is talking about science? I turned your answers into a bingo game!"

"What.", Tsukishima must have misheard him. "You have what?"

However, Yamaguchi actually seemed to have far too much free time, because on the back of the “list” was an 8x8 box in tricky writing, in which Tsukishima could vaguely read some of his standard answers.

Yamaguchi moved a little closer demonstratively and cleared his throat. “You see, in 4 out of 10 cases, your answer to a _“Can I ask you something?” w_ as _“No and now fuck off.”_ Not very nice, but effective. In 90% of all cases the questioner is withdrawn afterwards. And look here - “, he waved around in front of Tsukishima's face and let some scrambled eggs fly through the air. "Whenever an alpha told you that you were attractive, you would then say _“Well, at least one of us."”_

Tsukishima frowned and wiped some scrambled eggs from his sweater. "And? I know how I talk to people - what does this have to do with last night?"

Now a playful grin crept onto Yamaguchi's face again. “I'll tell you. Your dream prince ran into you yesterday, caught you and got into your personal space. And then, after you stared at him as if he were a cockroach, yelled in your face that you - I quote - _"must be an angel and you're damn beautiful"_ and you have not insulted him to nirvana, but are instead blushed and walked away without a word.”

In Tsukishima's view, yesterday evening's résumé didn't necessarily sound as if two soul mates had found each other.

Yamaguchi seemed to disagree, as always, and pushed his imaginary glasses further into his face before slowly folding his hands in his lap.

"In conclusio - the lack of an life-changing insult on your part is the indicator that I was allowed to witness an absolutely rare and probably unique event." He took a deep breath and then announced in a solemn voice: "Kei Tsukishima doesn't immediately have a rejection for an Alpha. What a beautiful day, I'm already starting to plan the wedding."

With mild amusement and just a hint of murderous lust, Tsukishima shook his head in disbelief, then gave his best friend a light nasal blow.

"You're crazy. Now it's official."

"That's what you say Tsukki, I'll ask you again in 6 days." grinned the Beta and laughed when Tsukishima sighed and buried his face in his hands.

The blonde was about to throw a cynical comment in the direction of his friend when suddenly a large figure approached them.

Tsukishima raised his head and looked directly into the face of a strange alpha who, judging by the uniform, seemed to come from Ubugawa, flashing Tsukishima a winning smile.

"Good morning, I hope I don't bother you."

He didn't even wait for Tsukishima's answer and stepped closer. "I wanted to ask if you would mind if I kept you two company for the rest of breakfast?"

At the sudden smell of alpha hormones at their table, Tsukishima wrinkled his nose and saw Yamaguchi happily opening a new column on his list before he turned to the Alpha and stared at him with all the coldness he could muster.

"It's good that you ask. No, you can't sit here and yes, you disturb. Alpha in the morning always makes my coffee so disgustingly bitter and you can also leave your hormones for yourself, we're not at the fish market here that it have to stink so much.”

He hadn't even raised an eyebrow and instead looked coolly into the Alpha’s eyes, which had contracted more and more with every word and now resembled only narrow slits.

"If I could ask you to leave now?" Tsukishima smiled cheerlessly and then nodded to Ubugawa's table, whose entire attention was on them. "Don't force me to get loud and embarrass yourself in front of your team, because believe me - you don't want me to do it."

The Alpha visibly winced at the Omega's harsh words and bared his teeth slightly before lifting his head and bowing. “Then I thank you for your time. Should you change your mind in a quiet minute, you know where to find me."

Tsukishima nodded, even if both he and the alpha knew that they would probably never speak to each other again and lowered the shoulders, which he had unconsciously pulled up.

"Wonderful, absolutely freezing cold, but wonderful.", Yamaguchi whispered next to him and glanced at the clock before he entered the time in his list.

"You can't help it, can you?" growled Tsukishima and Yamaguchi laughed again before he went back to his breakfast after the whole drama and quietly teased Tsukishima with the encounter of the Alpha.

Two tables further, Kuroo clawed his right hand in Bokuto's thigh and was only prevented from jumping up and going to the Alpha from Ubugawa by Akaashi's soothing voice and Kenma's warning eyes.

“Did you hear what he said to him? He wanted to eat with him?", Kuroo etched, “And I bet he had something very specific in mind for dessert."

The alpha growled indignantly and Bokuto patted Kuroo's knee understandingly. "But hey - Blondie managed it really smooth. Did you see Daiki's look? I bet he's not used of being turned down."

This thought actually made Kuroo grin briefly and slowly the alpha calmed down again, trying to catch a glimpse of the blond angel, who had just turned away the third grader Alpha so coldly, as inconspicuously as possible.

At the sight of the curls that billowed around the black glasses frame like liquid gold and the bored expression on his face, which was only intensified by the shining golden brown eyes, Kuroo whined inwardly and demonstratively touched his chest.

“Bo, I have to win this Omega over for myself. I can't just think when I see this God sent being every day and I'm not allowed to approach him."

"Sure Bro, it's noted, but your Blondie here doesn't seem to be particularly enthusiastic about Alphas, sure you don't prefer his little friend-"

Bokuto didn't get any further, because Kuroo's head jerked upwards and he shook Bokuto's shoulder enthusiastically. "Bro! You are a genius!"

Bokuto and Akaashi stared at Kuroo in confusion, Kenma's eyes flickered to the two Karasuno players and then he sighed audibly.

“No, Kuroo. Just no."

"Huh? What no? ", Bokuto looked back and forth between Kenma and Kuroo and then whined: “You always know things that I don't know, that's so mean!"

Akaashi had apparently understood what was going on in Kuroo's head, because his eyes widened barely noticeably before he addressed Kuroo directly. “No Kuroo. Don't even think about including Blondie's little friend in your stupid ideas."

"But the plan is brilliant," Kuroo whispered. “Who knows my angel better than his best friend? And I'll ask him very politely, don't worry."

The fact that the last time he had asked someone _"very politely"_ he had locked them up with himself and Bokuto in a broom closet for two hours and threw the key out of the window didn't really matter.

If Freckles-chan would show himself to be cooperative, they might not even have to resort to the broom closet and Kuroo would be a little closer to his goal of conquering the blonde Karasuno angel for himself.

Tsukishima was unsure what to make of the whole situation.

He was currently resting his arms on his thighs, trying to guess the next ball from Fukurodani, when their libero caught Asahi's spike and their setter set the ball to what was probably the loudest player Tsukishima had ever seen.

"To ME!", Their ace roared and Tsukishima winced as seconds later the ball rushed past his head like a cannon ball and the referee whistled the game.

"Hey HEY HEY!", The young man with the hairstyle, as if he had been hung upside down on the clothesline for too long, cheered and Tsukishima could see straight away that he didn't want to spend a second alone with this guy.

Quite apart from his absolutely unbearable volume and this accident of an hairstyle, the Alpha of the Fukurodani team happily sprayed his testosterone all over the gym and didn't seem in the least bothered by the fact that some Omegas had already wrinkled their noses.

But to top it all off, the Alpha seemed to belong to the closer circle of friends of another certain Alpha, whose existence Tsukishima had tried to ignore since their unhappy encounter the previous evening and failed miserably.

Tsukishima was convinced that he was now being served the receipt for his previous meanness in the form of a human burdock and no matter how hard he tried to ignore the Nekoma captain - _and oh he really tried_ \- the affectionate Alpha seemed to not having received the news that Tsukishima had no interest in alphas, their stupid hormones, or people in general.

And so it happened that, not a second after the game against Fukurodani was whistled, Tsukishima noticed the unmistakable accident of black hair in his field of vision and only with difficulty managed to turn around to the other to glare at him with cold eyes.

The mischievous grin he got in response only threw him off track the first two times and only caused an undesirable flutter of the heart for a short time, so that he managed to turn away with a dark expression, marching to his team without giving Kuroo a second look.

Ignoring Yamaguchi's big grin turned out to be just as difficult as avoiding the Alpha and when his best friend started humming "A whole new world", Tsukishima couldn't help but hit the Beta to the back of his head.

Not in the least impressed by this, Yamaguchi kept giving the black-haired Alpha knowing looks and Tsukishima vowed to strangle the Beta if he said a single word that contained the context "black-haired", "Alpha" and or "dream prince".

While he was still philosophizing about whether such an act would count as self-defense, Hinata hopped up to him and beamed through both ears.

“Tsukishima, I didn't know that we would train together with Bokuto-san, Akaashi-san and Kuroo-san afterwards! That's so cool!"

For a moment Tsukishima just stared confusedly at the little gnome and just as he was about to reply that he "definitely wouldn't want to train with these guys" Daichi intervened and patted him on the shoulder in appreciation.

"Ah Tsukishima-kun, how nice that you're accepting Kuroo-san's offer, I was already worried when he mentioned it to me earlier."

And then the entire cruelly thought-out picture suddenly sat together in front of Tsukishima's inner eye and he stared with slightly open mouth at the Nekoma captain, who winked at him innocently and did not let the confident grin disappear from his face.

Yamaguchi beside him, impressed, whistled through his teeth and smiled to himself.

“Well Tsukki, I have the feeling that an Alpha is very clearly interested in you. Just for the record - the wedding cake in orange or red? And 4 layers or 5? I'm also a little unsure about the guest list, at least I can't invite all of the two teams."

With an exasperated grumble, Tsukishima interrupted his friend and stared, even more morosely than before, holes in the back of the black-haired Alpha.

"That guy," he growled, "I'm going to make his damn life a living hell, how dare he play with me like that."

"Your middle name has recently become “melodramatic” too, or Tsukki?", Yamaguchi sounded more amused than anything else and poked the blonde in the side. “Come on, the boy hasn't even asked for a date yet. At least give him the chance to talk to you before you let your infinite anger break over him."

"Don't talked to me? The guy informed Daichi that I was going to train with him and then instructed Hinata to trumpet it out in front of the rest of the team, so that I had no choice but to show up at his stupid training and you call that “don't talking”? He didn't even deserve to be turned down by me, this waste of oxygen."

With a slightly raised eyebrow, Yamaguchi had listened to Tsukishima's outburst and now patted his shoulders playfully. "Yes is good, let everything out. And if you're done puking about the uncouth nature of an Alpha wanting to conquer yourself instead of asking directly for a date, you can answer the question about the wedding cake, because that's really important."

Tsukishima's mumbling, "Sometimes I really hate you," was drowned out in the Beta's laughter.

If Kuroo Tetsuro had had a swivel chair and a cat that he could've petted demonstratively - he would've turned around in exactly this swivel chair and watched his plan as it was put into practice.

All the gears meshed with each other without exception and the only last missing gear - one with unmistakable freckles - came towards him just after training and seemed to have a great interest in talking to him.

Kuroo leaned back on the bench with a big grin. "Good afternoon Freckles-chan. I was already expecting you."

The boy raised an eyebrow in amusement but said nothing and sat down next to him without a word until the rest of his team had gone to the cafeteria without paying any attention and they could finally talk undisturbed.

"Interesting plan that you have there.", came it now from the young Beta and Kuroo nodded to himself affirmatively. "Of course that's a good plan, it's my plan after all."

"I thought so." Yamaguchi started twisting a volleyball between his fingers and kept his eyes on the field so that an outside person might mistake it for a completely trivial conversation.

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, Kuroo-san."

Kuroo turned to the younger player and asked: "Is there something I should know that doesn't include that Glasses-kun is an cynical nightmare of an Omega?"

He felt the Beta look at him. "Because believe me, I've been watching him all day now and also listened to a few stories from Chibi-chan. If he doesn't turn into a werewolf by chance at a full moon or listens to One Direction, there is probably not much that could really put me off."

Yamaguchi snorted in amusement. “I just wanted to make it clear that he's in good hands. Emotionally he's a walking icicle, but I'm his best friend and just because Tsukki forgot to be mean to you yesterday it doesn't have to mean anything."

Kuroo crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged.

"Even if - what did you just call him - Tsukki doesn't attach much to yesterday's encounter, I just can't get his smell and that ice-cold gaze out of my head and have the feeling that I have to try my luck with him, otherwise I probably won't be able to block a single ball soon, your Blondie distracts me way too much."

"Please spare me the details," Yamaguchi muttered, then straightened up. “Well, if you're ready to invest all your nerves and time in my best friend, I'll give you one good tip. And only one - after all, I have a reputation to lose as a trustworthy person."

Curiously, Kuroo slid closer and shortly afterwards was given a small piece of paper on which various notes were half illegible.

"What's this?"

“That, my dear ally, is your key to Tsukishima's heart. I expect you to treat this list with the necessary secrecy, otherwise I was Tsukki's best friend for the longest time."

Only now did Kuroo recognize what he was holding in his hands.

His eyes darted over the individual points and he couldn't help but smile when he read the penultimate sentence and gave a small laugh.

"He's so damn cute." he smirked and Yamaguchi nodded. "Yes, he is. But that's it for me. There are small impulses that should help you to get into his heart. Equal rights for everyone - our Karasuno Alphas have more than enough time to get to know him, so I think you deserve a little help. But you have to find out the rest on your own, all right?"

But Kuroo had long since thought about the implementation of his plan and the infinite possibilities that would open up to him if he could include this note.

The corners of his mouth twitched upwards at the first stitch -

 _1\. Tsukishima Kei doesn't like Alphas_.

There was going to be a lot of work to do and goddamn it - he couldn't wait to see maybe a tiny little smile on the blond's face when he thought of him.


	3. ~ 3 ~

Kuroo hung upside down from a pile of mats and watched Bokuto as he had been walking up and down in circles, lamenting loudly for a few minutes.

After his meeting with Tsukishima's shadow aka Freckles-chan, Kuroo hadn't given himself any time and immediately grabbed Bokuto and Akaashi and pulled them into one of the many equipment rooms to discuss the next steps in their plan with them.

In his right hand was still the sacred note which Yamaguchi had entrusted to him and which would now be the fulcrum of their entire mission.

"So let's sum it up again-", said Akaashi, who was bored playing with one of his hair strands, "Tsukishima-kun will attend our training afterwards and you want to take the chance and use these tips to melt his ice heart, correct?"

Kuroo nodded and Akaashi grumbled thoughtfully to himself before throwing in: “But you've already read the note, huh? In my opinion, it's very clear that the boy doesn't like Alphas and if you immediately pour your overly intrusive hormones on him during training, he will certainly keep his distance even more afterwards. "

Now it was Bokuto's turn to ask the next question. “But if Ku doesn't go on the offensive, Blondie is sure to find an excuse to ignore his flirting. He doesn't seem like someone who's simply impressed with a few sayings and a wink, no offense bro. So what do you think he should do? "

Akaashi closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"I think it would be very helpful if you just be kind to him and show him that you don't just want him because he's an Omega."

Bokuto turned to his partner with a snort. “That can only come from a Beta, that's way too easy, Akaashi! Omegas want to be conquered! Really with fireworks and big cinema!"

"If you do that, the blonde will shoot you to the moon, I guarantee you that." Akaashi growled and glared at his boyfriend.

Kuroo was silent for a moment and let himself go through his options again before he shrugged his shoulders and his typical crooked grin crept onto his lips.

"I think I'll try Akaashi's advice first, Bo, but if I don't succeed with that tonight, I'll be courting my Blondie like he was never been courted before."

Tsukishima sat motionless at breakfast and stared devastating holes into his onigiri, which had been lying helplessly on his plate for 10 minutes and was the victim of his bad mood.

On a normal day his anger towards the world would've subsided after a few minutes and a strong coffee, but this day was anything but normal.

So it happened that Tsukishima still hadn't moved when Yamaguchi came in for breakfast a good 30 minutes later and threw him a questioning look.

"If you let go of a word about yesterday's training, I'll _drown_ you in my coffee." Tsukishima growled and Yamaguchi held up his hands soothingly.

“Oh so bad? I didn't think that an Alpha alone would be able to stir you up like that."

The toast that Yamaguchi hit on the head a moment later was fortunately still unscrambled and yet the younger one gasped indignantly.

“Did you just throw a toast at me? Where are we? In kindergarten?"

"At least that's how I feel!" Tsukishima hissed and dropped his head noisily on the table.

Now slight doubts mingled under Yamaguchi's features and he crouched down next to his best friend to put a comforting hand on his back.

"Hey, I was just kidding, do you want to tell me what happened yesterday?"

Tsukishima raised his head disgruntled and growled: "Actually, I would much rather have an overdose of coffee and hope that I fall into a caffeine coma so that I never have to think about yesterday again."

After a moment of silence in which Yamaguchi picked up the toast that had been thrown and tossed it solemnly in the trash can, Tsukishima made a faintly dying noise and began to speak.

“I got to training and had absolutely no ambition to spend a minute with these lunatics. Who thought it would be a good idea to put Bokuto-san and our dwarf in one room? I didn't last five minutes before my ears bleed from this infinite volume. But that wasn't even the worst thing."

Again he was silent and pulled his blond hair. "Kuroo-san was unbearably accommodating."

Now it was Yamaguchi's turn to stare at his best friend, confused. "Huh?"

“Do I have to repeat it again? He was the purest gentleman, it was almost unbearable. He parried all nasty sayings, but in this style that it was still incredibly charming and I think I even had to chuckle at one of his jokes. I'm so embarrassed! And when we went to the team rooms that evening, he offered me his jacket because it was cold? Yams, his damn jacket? I felt like I was in one of your stupid Disney films, actually the only thing missing was that he suddenly started singing and some animals appeared from every corner.”

Again Tsukishima buried his face in his hands and couldn't see the big grin that had manifested itself on Yamaguchi's face.

"And then? What happened then?", The Beta jiggled up and down next to him.

“What should have happened? I turned down his jacket and then ... then I panicked because I didn't find the thought of snuggling up in his damn good smelling jacket off-putting and I - ", he broke off and Yamaguchi took a sharp breath.

"You what?"

Tsukishima grumbled in pain. "Maybe I hissed at him that I don't need his jacket and that he should leave me alone."

"Tsukki!"

"What?! I panicked, I'm not used to that! What should I have done?"

The Beta next to him gave a theatrical sigh. "I don't know, maybe just pull the stick out off your ass, let your emotions in and give this Alpha, who apparently only wants you good, a _goddamn_ chance! Ugh Tsukki, sometimes I can't with you! "

"Thank you so much for your helpful comments, Yamaguchi, I feel a lot better right away," the blonde Omega snarled, earning an indignant look from his best friend.

He added, a little quieter, “I just don't know what to do with it now. I can't stand the guy and yet last night I felt really comfortable in his presence for a short time. That overwhelms me."

With a slightly milder look, Yamaguchi leaned against Tsukishima's shoulder and paused for a moment. “Just try not to stress yourself so much and forget all that Alpha / Omega behavior. See him as a person who was nice to you yesterday and maybe that will change the way you see things. Who knows, maybe in the meantime you will discover completely new things about yourself that you would otherwise never have noticed."

Again it was briefly quiet until Tsukishima pushed the Beta away with a swing. “Just get out of here, Doctor Yamaguchi. Since when have you been giving out such wisdom during breakfast? It's scary!"

Now Yamaguchi laughed again. “Some of us have to keep track of things. And oh yes, what exactly did you say to Kuroo yesterday, I still have to enter it in my _"Tsukishima Kei may likes an alpha"_ list that was specially created for him."

The blonde sighed loudly and began to eat his onigiri without comment, while Yamaguchi happily filled out a few lines and began to talk about his training, even if he noticed that Tsukishima's thoughts were completely elsewhere and just a little smile crept onto his lips for a moment.

While Tsukishima was being teased by Yamaguchi at breakfast, Kuroo was sitting at the same time with furrowed forehead in front of a sheet of paper and had been muttering conspiracy formulas to himself for a few minutes.

Kenma was now absolutely certain that his best friend had gone mad.

Inwardly, he was already thinking about how he should bring this condition to Kuroo's family as gently as possible and realized that he would rather leave this task to Akaashi and Bokuto, because they were to blame for everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.

The entire team had been allowed to listen to tirades for half the night about how the Blondie from Karasuno had resisted Kuroos "halfway passable flirtations" and had even refused an Alpha jacket that was offered to him.

From this point Kenma had switched off, because apparently at least one person in this strange relationship had a clear head and didn't get involved with a complete stranger after just one day.

The fact that Blondie had missed the first training game in Sendai due to a doctor's visit and thus the fateful meeting between Kuroo and himself had been delayed, was only realized by Kenma when Hinata had pointed this out to him the day before.

Of course it wouldn't have been possible for Kuroo to simply overlook his self-proclaimed _"moonlight"_ the first time and Kenma secretly thanked all the gods of this world, that he had been spared a month of lovesick blabbering from Kuroo.

Physically, he didn't see himself able to endure this state of permanent languishing for even longer than a week and he really hoped that Bokuto and Akaashi had some damn good tips in store to convince the blonde Omega as soon as possible, that their captain was not only able to tear jokes and occasionally block a ball.

It had already been 15 minutes in which Kuroo had been sitting quietly in the corner, babbling and Kenma wondered when it was appropriate to just leave him alone in his grief.

Next to the Alpha, Kenma looked normal and that should mean something when you consider that Kenma hadn't slept a minute for 2 days and instead had leveled his warrior and mage to maximum level.

A softly mumbled _"This agony"_ drew his attention back to his best friend and before he could ask what exactly was on Kuroo's mind, the Alpha suddenly jumped up with a sharp scream, stuffed the note into his pocket and stormed out of the room.

For a moment Kenma stared at the Kuroo-shaped hole that the black-haired had left behind and then turned back to his game with a shrug.

If Kuroo didn’t show up at breakfast within the next hour, he might have someone look for the boy, but he was pretty sure that he would find Kuroo with a certain owl duo right now.

"BO! AKAASHI!“, Kuroo slid around the corner of the canteen with a squeak and was just able to catch himself before he collided with the Ubugawa team leader and his setter, who both threw questioning glances after him as Kuroo came to a stop at the Fukurodani table.

A quick check of the room revealed that the majority of all players had already eaten and that Tsukishima was no longer within hearing range.

Bokuto looked at Kuroo from below, amused, and Akaashi continued to eat unbothered, apparently trying to ignore sudden antics with regard to Kuroo and Tsukishima.

"It's 7.30 am Kuroo and no matter what ideas have been spun in your head, they have to wait until we've eaten, because Bokuto will be whining all day if you stop him now." Akaashi grumbled without looking up and then said a little milder, "And you should eat too, after all you are Nekomas No. 1 and you have to make a good figure on the court, otherwise Lev will be team captain later."

Kuroo laughed and sank onto the bench next to his best friends, beginning to shovel rice into himself at a record-breaking pace.

"The thing is -" he added between a bite, "I approached the whole thing completely wrong."

"Oh is that so?", Akaashi's amused undertone didn't escape Kuroo, even if he deliberately ignored it.

"Yes, I think that Tsukki didn't feel completely uncomfortable last night - after all, he even chuckled at one of my jokes - even if he hissed at me, but I noticed that I completely failed using any personalized flirts on him."

Akaashi lifted his head and seemed to be about to ask what exactly he meant when Kuroo interrupted him and continued.

“The thing is, anyone can tell Tsukki that he's beautiful or that he smells nice. God, I'm not the only Alpha with eyes and a nose.” He shoveled a particularly large pile of rice into his mouth.

“I've now found out why Freckles-chan gave me this note. He said _“This is the key to Tsukki's heart”_ and it was meant almost literally. When I apply all the things that I have learned from this paper, Tsukki realizes how important it is to me to learn everything about him."

Bokuto and Akaashi stared at him with open mouths and Bokuto laughed out loud. "Wow - who would've thought that I would say that one day, but Bro, you're a genius!"

Kuroo grinned and posed before he got a highfive from Bokuto and immediately pulled the list out of his pocket.

The three boys slid closer together and studied each of the points, every now and then Bokuto would comment and Akaashi would ask a question, but all in all the scene looked like a really serious business and Kuroo's heart fluttered nervously when he thought about how his best friends did all of this for him and his luck.

After a while, Bokuto leaned back and scratched the back of his head.

“Well, I think you can really make something out of it. Like a super personalized courtship. The most blatant courtship that will ever happen and we are a part of it, Bro, my heart can't take this."

Kuroo smiled and punched his friend on the shoulder, turning back to the note.

"So what do you think? What should I start with?"

_"Dinosaurs."_ , said the couple in unison and Kuroo couldn't help but smile at the thought of what the term "dinosaurs" could mean.

"Bro, how about you give him a nickname of a dinosaur?"

"Something like “my little pterodactyl”?” Snorted the black-haired Alpha and both he and Bokuto started laughing at the same time.

Akaashi raised an eyebrow. "So that's out. And puns too, I think that wouldn't impress him that much."

The sudden silence on the part of Kuroo and Bokuto made the Beta look up warningly.

"No. Don't even think about it, Kuroo. ”, He muttered when he saw the glint in Kuroo's eyes.

"Oh yes." Exulted the Alpha.

"Oh no! No puns with dinosaurs. I beg you."

“But Akaashi! Puns are my kryptonite! You kind of put that in my mouth. Nothing will tricera-top this flirts."

Bokuto wheezed and Kuroo got another high five of the ace while Akaashi gave him an absolutely mortified look.

Tsukishima put both hands on his hips and was breathing heavily when they ran up and down the mountain behind gym for the fourth time within an hour, because they had again failed to win even one of their games.

The air in Tokyo shimmered with heat and increased the already ubiquitous hormones of everyone present, so that Tsukishima wrinkled his nose after another breath, shooting the small Alpha group at the door poisonous looks.

Their punishments had become the big highlight of the other groups, so that gradually more and more players joined their team and watched them from the shadow of the gym, shouting cheering calls to them.

The Alphas in front of him were, according to their jerseys, the team captains from Shinzen and Ubugawa as well as their respective setter and a middle blocker from Ubugawa, who watched Tsukishima with interested eyes, following his every step.

After his first encounter with the Alpha captain from Ubugawa, none of the other Alphas from the Tokyo schools had gone near him again and Tsukishima was more than grateful for this fact.

If you didn't count Kuroo , who stayed "inconspicuously" and waiting in Tsukishima's haze for the entire day, the camp could be described as quite bearable so far.

And even if Kuroo's Alpha hormones stuck to Tsukishima like a cheap perfume, the blonde couldn't bring himself to describe this fact as completely unbearable.

He was a little flattered that the raven-haired Alpha would put an arm against Tsukishima's shoulders at every opportunity or call in a high five if Tsukishima scored against him in a training game. Especially when you consider that Tsukishima had turned him down quite brusquely the night before.

These touches, which were barely perceptible to the others, ensured that a light touch of tobacco and chocolate wrapped itself around Tsukishima like a shell and continued to mix it with his own scent, until Tsukishima was sure that he could smell Kuroo almost everywhere on him.

This sign of interest had one big advantage, because other Alphas were deterred by the smell of an Alpha on the Omega and kept their distance.

Nobody wanted to mess with an Alpha who had _"marked his territory"_ \- especially not when this certain Alpha was still in the courting phase and thus faced far more aggressive competitors than usual.

Even if Tsukishima still didn't really liked the thought that someone had "claimed" him for himself, he had decided inwardly not to reject the attempted courting of the Alpha immediately.

Something in him - or possibly Yamaguchi's fiery speech about the opportunities he missed - had made Tsukishima think again about the first evening together.

No matter how you twisted it, Kuroo had acted completely contrary to his usual Alpha manner. Tsukishima had never met such an extremely reserved and at the same time demanding Alpha, who gave him the desired and urgently needed freedom, but at the same time was able to offer Tsukishima's sharp tongue a counterattack.

This thought finally led Tsukishima to decide not to stop Kuroo's flirting immediately and to give him a chance to show where their common path should lead.

The very idea that he would let an Alpha get closer to him and not immediately send him to the moon sounded like a completely stupid idea in his head.

Well - Kuroo had proven to be extremely exhausting, but at least he could counter Tsukishima and would probably listen to his wishes if he chased him away.

So it was worth a try.

A small voice in the back of his head proudly patted himself on the shoulder and sounded suspiciously like Yamaguchi, who raved in a self-loving monologue that it was all his merit and his good work and that he would want to name their first child.

Just as Tsukishima was wondering which awful name would tumble out of Yamaguchi's crude brain and dishonor his family forever, a figure suddenly came into view.

It felt like a deja vu, because one of the middle blockers from Ubugawa built up in front of him, Tsukishima had already forgotten the name of him and smiled crookedly at the blonde.

The smell of Kuroo on Tsukishima's sleeves didn't seem to bother him in the least, looking Tsukishima up and down invitingly.

"Hi.", He grinned and ran his hand through his short hair, "I know this is going to be super weird, but I've been watching you all day now and I've to be completely honest, you just smell incredibly exciting. I couldn't miss the chance to speak to you."

The Alpha took an unmistakable step towards Tsukishima, who backed away a bit at the same time, even if he narrowed his eyes and glared at the smaller Alpha.

Something about his behavior seemed to have got through to the Tokyo players, because the Alpha didn't even blink and continued to smile unimpressed at Tsukishima.

The blonde Omega growled icily. “You wasted the chance. I'm not interested."

The Alpha sighed and put a hand on his hip.

“Come on, Blondie, give me a chance. I know you turned down Daiki, but I'm really a nice guy, believe me. A date, then I can prove to you that maybe I'm an option after all and not-"

He couldn't stop his thoughts because suddenly a heavy hand lay on his shoulder and Tsukishima felt a strange tingling sensation in the pit of his stomach when he saw Kuroo appear right behind the Ubugawa Alpha.

“I think you'd better go. Tsukishima has clearly shown that he is not interested in you."

The black-haired Nekoma-Alpha was perfectly calm, but his eyes spoke a very different language. Only when the Ubugawa Alpha apparently wanted to contradict, Kuroo bared his fangs and growled: "Fuck off!"

With a low growl of his own and a withering look at Kuroo, the Alpha actually backed away after a sheer eternity and rejoined his group at the entrance to the gym, while Kuroo eyed Tsukishima attentively and then asked quietly: "Are you okay?"

It took Tsukishima a moment until his heart stopped jumping slightly at the thought that Kuroo had just defended him from the Alpha - even if he might not have needed the help, at least he had beaten every intrusive Alpha on the run so far.

But the fact that Kuroo had felt his discomfort and stepped in meant more to him than he wanted to admit.

"Yes I'm fine. Thanks for the help.", He answered Kuroo and the Alpha almost immediately had his trademark crooked grin on his face again. "No problem, Jurrassic Times are calling for Jurrassic measures."

Completely perplexed, Tsukishima stared at the Alpha in front of him, wondering for a moment whether he had just imagined this conversation but the exaggerated grin of the other unfortunately convinced him otherwise.

"Did you just ... return a thank you from me with a dinosaur pun?"

"I dino - did I?", Kuroo wiggled his eyebrows, the terrifying aura has now completely disappeared and Tsukishima exhaled audibly.

"Oh god you're such a nerd, Kuroo-san."

The alpha shrugged. "Guilty as charged. But I think we should go slowly back to our teams now, otherwise they'll be wondering where we are and think I had kidnapped you. "

"And torturing me with dinosaur puns is better?"

Kuroo laughed and turned to leave before pausing again.

"Oh and Tsukki-", he held out his hand briefly and let it wander over Tsukishima's jersey sleeve. "Let me know the next time when an Alpha gets cocky again, okay?"

The caustic comment, which he had already made up, died in Tsukishima's mouth and he noticed how a fine smile crept onto his face. "Yeah sure, I'll just stand in Sendai and shout your name out loud in the hope that you will materialize next to me, huh?"

Kuroo nodded slowly. "You make your jokes, I'm going to Bokuto and will tell him all of my great dinosaur puns that you disdained."

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but laugh.

“Kuroo-san? Can you really spawn in Sendai sometimes? Cause I think you Jurrassican't."

Ignoring the overwhelmed gasp from Kuroo, Tsukishima stalked past him and soon found himself next to Yamaguchi, who gave him meaningful looks and grinned quietly to himself for a reason not known to Tsukishima.


	4. ~ 4 ~

Kuroo was on cloud nine.

With a dumb grin on his face, the Alpha blocked a spike from Bokuto and didn't even notice the other's disappointed cursing when his thoughts and eyes wandered back to _his_ Omega, who was at the other end of the hall with his team playing against Shinzen.

After a moment of quiet languishing, a kick by Yaku on his shin brought Kuroo back into the here and now.

Their Libero lowered his voice a little as he approached him and dug a warning finger into Kuroo's chest.

“Idiot, I'm warning you. If your stupid crush on Karasuno's number 11 prevents you from playing normally here, then I swear to you, I'll beat you up! For once in a lifetime, don't let your dick control you, but your brain!"

Kuroo snorted amused and avoided the gaze of the angry omega, who crossed both arms in front of his chest and was clearly ready to fight Kuroo in front of his entire team.

"Calm down Yaku, I stopped Bokuto's Spike, what are you so upset about?"

Yaku glared at him from below with narrowed eyes and then growled, “One ball, Kuroo. One. But you don't even seem to have noticed the four before of it, your gaze was so fixed on Blondie. The boy should have a hole in his back by now, you've been staring at him so intensely since the last break. For once, how about a little dedication for, _I don't know_ , your damn team, asshole?! "

In the meantime, Kenma had stepped next to Yaku, carefully placing a hand on the libero's shoulder and mumbled: "Yaku-san, I think your lecture is useless, his eyes are on Blondie again and if you can infer anything from his open mouth, then it probably means that his brain has just gone up in smoke. "

While Yaku was in the process of reproaching Kuroo, his gaze had wandered back to Karasuno's ranks, where the game had just ended with a win for the crows and at that very moment the universe had decided to completely pulverize his already foggy brain when Freckles-chan whispered something in Tsukishima's ear and the blonde then turned to Kuroo with crimson ears.

The sight of a flushed Tsukishima caused a complete failure in Kuroo and he was sure that at that moment a bomb could have exploded next to him - he would not have averted his eyes from Tsukishima.

"God, I'm in heaven.", The alpha breathed soundlessly and absently ran his hand through his hair when Tsukishima gave him another intense look and Kenma made a snorting noise next to him.

“You're not in heaven, you are lost and pretty much dead if you don't put your head back on our game right now. I think Yaku is already planning his eulogy for you.", Kuroo's best friend grumbled and tugged at Kuroo's jersey until the black-haired man finally managed to tear himself away from Tsukishima.

It was crazy, for one thing he could have almost normal conversations with the blonde, teasing him, cracking his jokes and flirting, but as soon as Tsukishima even began to respond, his legs turned to pudding and his brain to mush and he was glad when something other than helpless gasps left his mouth.

Bokuto, who was standing across from him at the net, grinned silently to himself and wiggled his eyebrows as soon as Kuroo turned his attention back to the game.

The ace hummed to himself in a sugar-sweet voice: "Kuroo and Tsukki are sitting on the tree k-i-s-s-"

"Oh my god, shut up, Mister _“Akaashi is my whole life"_.", hissed Kuroo, but his voice had no bite.

The two friends nodded meaningfully to each other and Bokuto punched Kuroo lightly against the side under the net before clapping his hands and calling in another for ball.

After an afternoon full of tiring games, Kuroo found himself between Akaashi, Bokuto and Kenma, who were now listening to Tsukishima's comment for the third time, or rather had to listen, because Kuroo simply couldn't stop talking without periods due to sheer energy.

For his friends, it was a bit like the first night Tsukishima ran into Kuroo, only that his crush no longer seemed completely unfounded, since Tsukishima had kind of answered his flirt - although maybe not necessarily in the conventional sense.

"So let's summarize," Akaashi rolled onto his stomach and looked back and forth between the other three. "Tsukishima not only reacted positively to your absolutely stupid dinosaur puns, he also made one himself, correct?"

Kuroo nodded enthusiastically and Akaashi leaned on the floor with a sigh. “Well, then at least we know that in some ways he can live with your stupid jokes. A plus point that this poor boy will sorely need."

Kenma snorted in amusement and Kuroo rolled his eyes before he fished out Yamaguchi's sacred list again and ignored Akaashi's "Do you always have it with you?"

"Please take a look at it, I think I have now understood Tsukki's love for dinosaurs and in the next few years of our hopefully soon relationship I will overwhelm him with all the dinosaur plush toys I can find."

"It sounds absolutely creepy when you talk about years of your relationship, even though he talked to you properly for the first time today, Kuroo."

“Kenma, a man can still dream and besides -”, Bokuto grinned, “when I saw Akaashi for the first time, I was no different. You can ask my team, I think they were ready to leave me at a rest stop after two days because I just couldn't stop raving about Akaashi. And look what we are now. "

"Desperate, insecure, completely lost?" Akaashi offered and Bokuto gave him a hurt look, which he returned with a kiss on Bokuto's cheek.

Kenma rolled his eyes and went back to his game as Kuroo silently studied the list in front of him, mentally going through his next steps.

Realistically speaking, his chances with Tsukishima weren't completely bad anymore and if you added a little imagination and good will you could call them almost "good", after all the blonde Omega hadn't let Kuroo down in front of the whole team down and that had to be something of worth.

Secretly, Kuroo couldn't wait to face Tsukishima again and elicit the most varied reactions from the blonde.

It was a strange feeling to just feel so _"whole"_ with a person who treated you like air almost all the time but god damn Kuroo was a born romantic and the idea that the Omega had to be his missing, even tho extremely unruly, puzzlepiece made his heart beat faster.

In his chaotic life, no other person had knocked him off his feet like the middle blocker from Karasuno and Kuroo wanted to be damned if he didn't do everything possible to get to know the boy better.

With a dreamy smile he thought of Tsukishima's mocking grin, the defiantly flashing eyes or his rasping voice when he made fun of Chibi-chan again.

The fact that Tsukishima was a full on nerd and apparently had a weakness for dinosaurs and - according to Freckles - superheroes was just the cherry on top of the cake for Kuroo and he wondered if it was possible to fall in love with the blonde even more than he already had.

Because no matter how you twisted it - Kuroo was head over heels in love with the snarky Omega and everything in him felt as if magnetically drawn to the blonde.

Tsukishima with his beastly manner, the cynical grin, the cool comments, the smirk that moved mountains, the shy smile and the uncertain look of his eyes had wormed itself in Kuroo's heart and seemed to feel more than comfortable being there.

Exactly for this reason, Kuroo's second courting attempt would come into force today and knock the blonde off his feet if possible.

"I think I know what I'll do next," he muttered just loud enough for the others to hear him and Bokuto raised his head questioningly.

Kuroo smiled at his thoughts - either his next idea would bring Tsukishima's hormones to boil over or Kuroo would find himself on the moon and have to live forever in the shame of having pissed off the possible love of his life.

But who said again "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?" Gandhi? Obama?

Whoever owed this motivational speech - he would be responsible today that Kuroo would hopefully find his happiness.

"Who of you can get me a boom box by tonight?"

In retrospect, Tsukishima would claim that the second evening of the training camp was the most embarrassing moment of his young life and that Yamaguchi would laugh, nod and agree that he was right about that.

Because whoever had the idea to give Kuroo Tetsurou the opportunity to stand in front of their team window late at night and call for him, should experience serious consequences.

At first nobody had noticed the noise in the background, the team had returned to their rooms far too late from training, as always, and in general, Ennoshita was the first to notice the shouting under their window.

"Tsukishima, I think you should take a look at that."

Ennoshita's amused chuckle also made the rest of the team pay attention and shortly afterwards all the Karasuno players stood next to Tsukishima at the windows and stared at the black-haired Nekoma player, who was standing on the lawn one floor below, grinning at Tsukishima apologetically.

Perhaps Tsukishima should have trusted his gut instinct and walked away from this window as quickly as possible, but something in him left him deadlocked and Yamaguchi's iron grip on his arm did the rest.

Suddenly the silence of the night was filled with loud music and Tsukishima immediately noticed how his cheeks were starting to burn - because, God, he knew this damn song and he would kick Kuroo in the butt that the next morning, that Alpha wouldn't be able to sit for a week.

"Is that -", Daichi mumbled and Sugawara couldn't help but laugh, when Wham!'s _"Careless whisper"_ rang to their window at full volume and Kuroo heaved the boom box onto his shoulders, grinning crookedly at Tsukishima with a raised eyebrow.

Hinata next to Tsukishima squealed with laughter and Tanaka slapped Tsukishima on the shoulder with a flick of the eyebrows, while the Omega was in a state of shock and was already imagining the cruel way in which he could repay Kuroo all this.

The alpha in front of him rocked back and forth to the music and then breathed an exaggerated _"Wham!_ " at which Tsukishima could only roll his eyes.

He had seen Deadpool more than once and hated himself for knowing that Kuroo was alluding to it.

Although he would gladly kick the Alphas ass, he leaned further out the window.

“Nothing is getting ghettoblasted here. Go to bed, Kuroo!” The grin on the Nekoma Alpha's face grew a little wider and he held eye contact a few moments too long before the song ended in the background and Kuroo was gone as quickly as he had come.

A brief, tense silence fell over the Karasuno team until after half an eternity Asahi muttered an incredulous “I can't believe it” and then all hell broke loose.

Everyone was talking to Tsukishima at once and the young Omega cursed Kuroo for the second time that evening with all of his soul.

Daichi and Sugawara took Tsukishima aside, Daichi more than indignant that Kuroo had not asked _him_ first if he could court Tsukishima and Sugawara rattled off all contraceptive methods and tips that he as an "responsible omega" could give his Kouhai on the way.

Tanaka and Noya tugged at Tsukishima's shoulders, promising to beat up Kuroo if he would harm him, all between repeated boiling laughs and Yamaguchi just grinned crookedly, said nothing and silently made some notes on his list.

How the hell could Kuroo have known that Tsukishima had seen Deadpool at the premiere and even had a Wade Wilson action figure in his room?

Something didn't really make sense in this regard, and the longer Tsukishima thought about it, the guiltier Yamaguchi looked in his eyes.

The knowing grin of his best friend contributed absolutely _nothing_ to his innocence and even while Hinata declared "to be so proud of him", the blonde Omega began to plan the funeral speech of the freckled Beta.

And a little bit, but only a tiny bit, an image of a certain Alpha crept in front of his inner eye and stole his concentration.

God, Tsukishima was so lost.

And somehow he was OK with it.


	5. ~ 5 ~

The tension at the next breakfast could've been smelled in the air.

Nekoma was already in the cafeteria, Shinzen and Ubugawa gradually trundled in and Fukurodani, or rather just Bokuto, entertained the room with amusing anecdotes from their training.

Kuroo's eyes flickered to the door as soon as another player from Shinzen stumbled into the room.

"Stop it, it makes me nervous.", grumbled Kenma, who was thrown out of the pattern of his rhythm game by Kuroo's constant jerky movements and had finally had enough of it after the fifth restart.

Yamamoto grinned broadly and punched Kuroo at the shoulder, causing the Nekoma captain to slip off the table with his elbow and almost hitting the table top face first.

The Alpha growled in annoyance and Yamamoto laughed, raising his arms, while Yaku rolled his eyes and Lev asked little Omega _"Why Kuroo-san was so tense?"_

"I'd like to know that too." Yaku snarled and glared at Kuroo.

And loud enough that Kuroo would definitely hear it, he added: "But if Mister “Head in the Clouds” only has eyes for Karasuno's Blondie today, _we_ have a problem."

Kai next to Yamamoto propped his chin on one hand and mumbled, “Oh Yaku, don't be so strict with him. Nobody said anything to you back then when Lev paddled after you like a lovesick puppy."

"Oh yeah, that's right." Fukunaga straddled in between. "And we didn't say anything when he threatened Bokuto to beat him up when you stumbled due to one of his spikes."

"Or the one time when he read you a poem in front of the entire team and -"

"YES OK!", Yaku hissed and buried his face in his cereal before a half-hearted smile crossed his lips. “I understand, you can stop now. Should Mister Bedhead waste our valuable training camp in courting the blonde beanstalk - when he finally gives up with his lovesick howling after this, I can live with it."

Kuroo raised a warning eyebrow at the _"beanstalk"_ comment, but when he saw the challenging flash in Yaku's eyes, he grinned into his coffee and gently pushed the Omega away from him.

“Yeah sure, says the Chibi with the beanstalk as a boyfriend. Tsukki and I are at least the same size, while you are nothing but a standing blower- "

The rest of Kuroo's comment was drowned out by a loud outcry from Yaku and the roar of laughter from his team.

Just as Yaku was about to throw himself on Kuroo's back and drown him in the milk, the creaking of the entrance door promised the arrival of another group of people.

_"Oh fuck."_

Yamamoto's murmur drew the Nekoma group's attention to the newcomers and Kuroo forgot to breathe for a brief moment as he gazed into Tsukishima's bright golden eyes, which had almost immediately focused on him.

And then he smelled _it._

Tsukishima smelled incredible.

Not that he hadn't smelled so damn exciting before, but overnight some of the sour undertone that had always surrounded the blonde Omega seemed to have evaporated and a cloud of fresh strawberries and old books filled the cafeteria and Kuroo _swallowed_ dryly.

And he seemed by far not the only one who had noticed the change, because Yamamoto threw uncertain looks at Kuroo across from him, his nostrils trembled and even Lev breathed a little shallower than before.

At the Fukurodani table, Washio turned to Tsukishima and Bokuto lifted his head in surprise from his breakfast, while the Alpha group of Shinzen and Ubugawa exchanged meaningful smirking looks and Kuroo could suddenly think nothing more than _"This boy belongs to me. If even one of you touches him, we have a problem with each other. He is mine!"_

He had no idea what had caused the sudden change of smell for Tsukishima, but one thing was as certain as the amen in church - Kuroo wouldn't allow someone with dishonest intentions to attack Tsukishima just because he suddenly smelled so damn mouthwatering.

The blonde Omega scanned the room with his head held high and gave Kuroo another smug look before he walked to the Karasuno table with Yamaguchi in an all-encompassing cloud of scent.

Half of all eyes in the room were on the blonde at this point and Kuroo felt a dull feeling in his stomach seeing the looks the other Alphas were giving the Omega.

Of course, it aroused a certain primal instinct in each of the Alphas when an Omega suddenly changed his smell - mostly that meant that the Omega was now ready to mate and if the smell was so intense that it made your mouth water, Kuroo couldn't blame any of the others for staring at Tsukishima.

Even if that didn't mean, of course, that he even agreed in the slightest with this fact - at least he was currently courting the blonde and Tsukishima didn't seem to be completely averse to him.

That's why it was absolutely impossible that half of the team now got in his way.

"Ugh Kuroo, stop it.", Shibayama whimpered suddenly at their table and Inuoka and Yaku also backed away a little from the Alpha.

"You stink! Your testosterone is so strong, it makes us nervous.", Yaku growled and Kuroo only now noticed that he had bared his teeth and the hair on the back of his neck was bristling.

Yamamoto and Lev gave Kuroo careful looks and then tore themselves away from Tsukishima, albeit visibly involuntarily.

A threatening rumble left the Nekoma Captain's mouth and the other two Alphas bowed their heads slightly to indicate their retreat.

"I'm sorry." He apologized to his team Omegas and took a deep breath, unwilling to vent his anger on his friends and immediately noticed how another wave of testosterone filled the room.

Daichi, Tanaka and Asahi had entered the room with Sugawara, Nishinoya and Ennoshita in tow and all at the same time gave Kuroo a warning look.

The squad of older Karasuno Alphas marched to their table and gave each of the Alphas present a scowl.

"Is it just me, or has anything changed in the constellation of the Karasuno players since last night?" Whispered Kai and nodded to the table of crows, where now Daichi and Tanaka had settled down to the left and right of Tsukishima and Asahi had taken the place across from the blonde.

"I think Blondie's new smell hasn't escaped the alpha crows either and now the big guns are being deployed to preserve his precious purity.", Yaku leaned back in his seat and took a deep breath with his eyes closed.

“God what the hell happened to Blondie, even I have a light headache due his smell. So either he's going to have his heat soon or he has found and accepted his soulmate”, he gave Kuroo a disparaging look, “otherwise there is no reasonable explanation for this odor massacre over there."

"Soulmate you say?" Kuroo muttered absently, unable to tear his gaze away from Tsukishima and Yaku growled in agreement.

“Yes, when an Omega meets his soulmate or his partner designated for him and not only perceives him but also accepts him as this, a very special smell can be released that otherwise only occurs in the heat. It should inform the partner that his advances have been successful."

But before Kuroo could even ask what exactly that meant for him, he saw out of the corner of his eye how an Alpha from the group around Shinzen and Ubugawa made his way to the Karasuno table.

And suddenly everything happened much too quickly - Daichi stood growling in front of the Shinzen-Alpha, this one built up in full size in front of the Karasuno-Alpha and Kuroo had crossed half the room without even realizing.

"Stay away from our Omegas!" Daichi sneered and Asahi also gave a warning growl while the Shinzen player got support from the Ubugawa Alphas, which Tsukishima had rejected in the past few days.

"Step aside!", The Ubugawa middle blocker hissed, "Your blonde Omega has been behaving like the biggest tease all day now and then he still smells today-" he pointed at Tsukishima, "like _this_! Don't tell us that you are holding your hand over him, he should sort it out with us personally!"

"I think Tsukishima has shown clearly enough that he's not interested in _you_." Daichi's voice shook with suppressed anger and Kuroo was about to intervene and push the rebellious Alphas outside when suddenly Tsukishima got up with a jerk and walked past Daichi.

For a moment it was quiet and Tsukishima stared down at the smaller Alphas until he began to speak in the coolest and most derogatory voice.

"You want to clarify this personally, ok, gladly - you can have it." His eyes became small slits and the previously sweet smell of the omega was saturated with something that even made Kuroo flinch.

“I actually thought I had expressed myself clearly enough when I said that I don't want to get to know any of you better. But well, I like to spell it again for the particularly _slow_ ones among you."

The Omega bared his teeth and a compassionate grin formed on his lips.

“You're _pathetic_ excuses to Alphas who are unable to accept a “no” for the final answer because you're so convinced that you're at the top of the food chain that, as a poor Omega, I cannot help myself but kneel in front of you, right? But you know what?"

He took a step towards the foremost Shinzen-Alpha until their noses almost touched and the smell in the room became unbearable.

“I will never kneel in front of either of you. Not here, not on the court, _nowhere_. You will look up and always see me there because I'm not a damn trophy or a game to be won. I'll be there when you lose to us in the national championships and I'll _smile_ because the “poor little Omega” didn't have to crawl after an Alpha. Got it?"

The last word was accompanied by a sugar-sweet smile and Kuroo's heart was beating so fast it wanted to jump out of his chest and with sheer enthusiasm he looked at Tsukishima, who let himself fall back on the bench without another word and ate as if nothing had happened.

Tsukishima had noticed the change in his body early in the morning.

Long before anyone else on his team had peeled their way out of their sleeping bags and even long before the sun had risen, Tsukishima had already sat in the large shared bathroom and looked at his eyes in the mirror.

The otherwise cold yellow now shone in shimmering gold tones and despite the glasses it took his breath away.

He had read about this effect - back when they had studied partnership and kinship in biology. More and more information flushed his still tired brain and he sighed in resignation.

If he could perhaps ignore the brightly shining eyes, the almost unbearable smell that clung to him, he couldn't.

Tsukishima leaned his forehead against the cold glass and sniffed the steam-covered air of the bathroom where his hormones polluted the air like an intrusive perfume.

For an Omega in the courting phase it was by no means unusual to change the smell and to perceive it more intensely during this time, but the significance of this fact made Tsukishima sigh again and again that morning.

"Soulmates, huh?" He muttered to himself and couldn't quite suppress the tender smile and twitch of the corners of his mouth at the thought.

"Well then let's see what my soulmate is going to do to secure my attention."

The blonde Omega stretched and threw himself another look in the mirror, while his own little plan formed in his head and with a narrow grin the blonde slipped back into their rooms, where minutes later the first team members woke up and almost all of them immediately gave Tsukishima surprising looks.

Daichi's indignant grumbled "Oh I hope for him that he's a fast runner."

"I told you.", Yamaguchi whistled, made a failed pirouette and then beamed at Tsukishima from below. "You smell amazing, even I can tell."

With another grin and a much too exaggerated wink, Yamaguchi added: "Get him, tiger."

"Only if you never call me tiger again, idiot." Tsukishima snarled and for the first time in his life allowed his stomach to tingle with excitement.

He could get used to this feeling.

As if breakfast had been an indication of the rest of the morning, the fourth morning of the training camp was characterized by an uncanny aggressiveness between the Alphas present.

In the first game, one of the Alphas from Shinzen spiked a ball directly and deliberately in Yamamoto's face after he had apparently stood in the way.

The fight that then broke out, largely consisting of wild insults, even let the coaches intervene and both Alphas had to spend the next game on the bench.

When Daichi asked if that would be the case every time, the rest of the team captains gave him an unimpressed shrug.

Bokuto explained that it was perfectly normal for a few Alphas to pound each other on the last day, the weeks-long testosterone excess and mostly a few good-smelling, but out of reach, Omegas, sooner or later regularly caused some problems.

"Even if it started earlier than usual this year.", Bokuto admitted and gave Daichi a clear look, which the Crow Alpha only returned stubbornly.

He was probably also aware that the sudden change in smell of a certain blonde middle blocker had overflowed with some Alphas and now ensured that Tanaka and Asahi always had to stay close to the Omega in order to keep curious and life-weary Alphas at a distance.

Not that Tsukishima couldn't have done it alone.

After his icy speech at breakfast, the blonde just seemed to be waiting for another insane Alpha to verbally dissect him.

Tsukishima's shadow, Freckles, was apparently more than amused by the whole situation, because the face of the pinch server had been graced with an amused grin since the morning and every time another Alpha came anywhere near Tsukishima, the boy began digging a little paper out of his pants and excitedly took notes.

Kuroo wasn't quite sure what was going on with the whole thing, but he was firmly convinced that he heard a shouted "Bingo!" during one break.

All Karasuno players were stretching in the back of the gym and Kuroo caught himself not taking his eyes off a blonde Omega again.

"Well well, love.", Bokuto sighed next to him and put an arm understandingly around Kuroo's shoulders. "Training with Blondie again tonight?"

“I don't know, to be honest. After standing in front of his window yesterday like a complete idiot, I wonder if he will agree to normal training again.” Kuroo grumbled and released himself from Bokuto's grip.

Even if he had already thought up a thousand and one more ways in which he could intercept and kidnap Tsukishima in the most inconspicuous manner, if the boy should refuse the training.

But as if fate wanted to give Kuroo another indirect hint, Tsukishima raised his head at that moment and Kuroo could have sworn to see an inviting smile on the blond's face.

They stared at each other across the net for a long moment, completely ignoring the fact that both Bokuto and Yamaguchi looked back and forth between them in amusement.

"Bo," muttered Kuroo, "I think he's doing this on purpose."

"What? Fixating you like a cat and waiting for your next step? Yes, I think so too.” Bokuto gave a small laugh.

"And I thought you were the kitten of both of you."

"Something is different," Kuroo began, completely ignoring Bokuto's prick. “He never looked at me like that before. It's almost as if he's really interested and wants to challenge me to do something really stupid."

Now the Fukurodani captain raised his head and cast an appraising look at the blonde Omega, whose gaze was still provocatively focused on Kuroo.

"Are you going to do something really stupid?" He asked carefully and Kuroo nodded absently.

"Yes I think I will."

It was quiet between them for a moment, then Bokuto just shrugged and grinned.

"Whatever you're up to, I'll be there, Bro."

It was one thing for Tsukishima that his best friend seemed to have a keen interest in selling him to a certain black-haired Alpha, but it was another thing that Yamaguchi didn't even seem to shy away from the dirty methods.

After the legendary breakfast speech, as Tanaka had called it and had already had it completely transcribed by Yamaguchi in order to present it with tears in his eyes at every possible moment, Yamaguchi had involuntarily answered Tsukishimas questions.

This had included that Tsukishima was now aware that a valuable list of his hobbies was in Kuroo's possession and would presumably determine Kuroo's next actions.

At Tsukishima's angry question _"Why the fuck he did that"_ , Yamaguchi had just shrugged his shoulders and declared that it was compensatory justice.

Kuroo deserves a fair chance in his opinion, but his local absence for much of their high school life would mean that the Alpha would never see Tsukishima in his Jurassic Park shirts or X-Men hat.

With this fact, the boy would no longer have the opportunity to find out about Tsukishima, because after all, and Yamaguchi had given Tsukishima a stern look, Tsukishima would otherwise not peddle his hobbies.

And with the fact that he probably wouldn't have given his number to Kuroo for anyway, it would've been almost impossible for the black-haired Alpha to approach Tsukishima other than on the Alpha-Omega or volleyball level.

And that would be - quote from Yamaguchi- "a shame, because if Kuroo-san was already chasing after Tsukki like a lovesick dog, what would it be like when he got to know and love all of his little hobbies."

Even if Tsukishima only laughed at this statement, because what was so exciting about his hobbies, he could only have been angry with Yamaguchi for a very short time.

The thought that Kuroo had gotten a glimpse into his life and was still chasing the crazy thought that Tsukishima was the right one for him, made his heart flutter again.

So that's how Hinata felt before every game?

That tingling sensation, that slightly numb feeling in the limbs? The telltale heartbeat?

God, Tsukishima sounded like Yamaguchi when he told him about his romance novels and fell into an almost endless recitation of the main character's best moments.

This same Yamaguchi, a nasty traitor friend by trade and guaranteed the downfall of Tsukishima's staunchly defended virginity, was sitting next to Tsukishima and happily scribbled around in his notes.

"What are you writing there?" Growled Tsukishima, still looking at Kuroo and a challenging smile on his lips.

"Oh, you know," Yamaguchi leaned back a little and screwed up his eyes as he held the paper a bit at a distance, "I've noticed that a “ _Tsukki doesn't like all Alphas_ ” bingo only works partially and is nowhere near as much fun as expected. Who could've guessed that you're so scary that all Alphas stay away from you after breakfast."

He waved indignantly in front of Tsukishima's face and pointed to the swept away court. “You see, I was only missing one square, then I would've had a bingo twice in one day. But no, Mister _"I don't have my hormones under control"_ had to play Rambo and rage through the poor Alphas."

"Oh, that's what they call it nowadays when you are getting harassed by someone." Tsukishima growled and his best friend just rolled his eyes.

“As if someone here is really bothering you. At every chance to talk to you, I only saw a bunch of offended alphas afterwards and they couldn't even bother you emotionally. You're way too witty for them. "

"Funny, it almost sounds like you are amused when these Alphas get on my nerves." Tsukishima looked at Yamaguchi carefully, but the Beta just shook his head.

"God definitely not, Tsukki, I'm happy if you're okay and I would want to break the legs of any Alpha hurting you, but let's be honest - none of them had the slightest chance of being an asshole to you, you've already made sure of that."

With a dramatic wave of his hand and an arm thrown over his head, Yamaguchi peered at Tsukishima. "Where is the tension, please? Where is the chance for a certain cat alpha to heroically save you?"

The statement made Tsukishima snort and kick Yamaguchi indignantly.

“So that's what it's about. You want to collect BlackMail material against me if Kuroo stands in the way of the Alphas and then use it against me forever."

Yamaguchi gasped in indignation. "Where do these nasty accusations against your perfect, _lovable_ , best friend come from?"

"Who are you talking about? All I see is a cynical Beta with too much fantasy who has sold his best friend's virginity to a strange Alpha for a great love story. "

Yamaguchi chuckled softly and grinned at Tsukishima. “If you put it that way, I sound like a real asshole. I just want your best."

"And apparently my “best” is the Alpha who is crouching over there next to a strange owl and looks like he's about to trumpet a declaration of love, I assume?" Tsukishima ran his fingers against the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

Giggling, Yamaguchi turned in the direction of the black-haired Alpha and watched carefully as he and Fukurodani's number 4 discussed heatedly.

"The thing is," the Beta started again, "you know you like him and that he likes you is more obvious than the way Daichi and Suga longing after each other."

Just when Tsukishima was about to protest and explain that he accepted Kuroo, but certainly didn't like him "the way" Yamaguchi thought, the smaller one held a finger in the air and Tsukishima fell silent.

"You can deny it with your stubbornness, but I can tell you one thing."

The Beta drew nearer and Tsukishima suppressed the desire to move backwards as Yamaguchi took a deep breath through his nose and gave a satisfied sigh.

“If even I can smell your pheromones as Beta, then that means something. God, Tsukki, if we weren't best friends and something like brothers - I'd try to make a move on you. You smell like you have fallen into a whole bath of hormone boosters, no idea how all the Alphas can take that."

"Sorry, that's not my fault," the blonde growled and Yamaguchi cocked his head. "Well at least you decided to take his courting and accept him as your soulmate, so in a way it's your fault."

"Great, first I run into an Alpha that doesn't want to leave me afterwards, and then my best friend blames me for it."

"Ah, so I AM your best friend." Yamaguchi smirked and was just able to avoid the thrown ball while laughing loudly.

The two stopped moving when suddenly someone next to them cleared their throat and Asahi nodded his head at the Nekoma-Alpha, who was strolling in their direction, apparently by chance.

"Tsukki ~" whistled the black-haired man and Yamaguchi visibly suppressed an amused snort when Tsukishima rolled his eyes at his nickname.

Since breakfast there had been no further opportunity for a conversation and if Tsukishima was being honest, the few hours of quiet had contributed a lot to his inner peace.

But Kuroo Tetsurou wouldn't be Kuroo Tetsurou if he wasn't ready to destroy this inner peace and replace it with much too obvious flirting.

The Alpha slowly crossed his arms and gave the blonde a meaningful look that told Tsukishima to take the opportunity in which Kuroo hadn't said anything and he should disappear, but as always his curiosity got the better of him and he raised one contemptuously eyebrow.

"What can I help you with, Kuroo-san?"

“Have we got back to the courtesy, Tsukki? I thought you only call me Kuroo now."

The blonde snorted. "I'm sorry, unfortunately I don't know what you're talking about and if you should allude to last night - you were standing with a boom box in front of my window, if it had been up to me I would have shoved it up your ass along with your _“-san "_. "

" _Oh kinky_.", Kuroo purred and laughed as Tsukishima grumbled back with red ears.

"But that's not actually why I'm here, Tsukki." Kuroo wrinkled his face again, as if the next question would decide his entire here and now.

Tsukishima realized that Kuroo could only have one question in mind, when he was _that_ serious.

But he wasn't ready to answer this honestly - God, he had only admitted his damn feelings to himself that morning and now Kuroo was standing here and was about to utter a confession in front of everyone.

"Which Hogwarts house are you?"

What?

Had Tsukishima just misheard him and put other words into Kuroo's mouth out of panic?

In no way could the man in front of him have asked in all seriousness about Tsukishima's Hogwarts house because _what the hell_ , why would he do that?

"Excuse me?", He stared at Kuroo confused and the Alpha stepped nervously from one foot to the other.

"I asked which Hogwarts house you are, Tsukki.", The black-haired man mumbled softly and Tsukishima wanted to laugh hysterically, because Kuroo was by no means a real person.

Since he was still staring at the other in silence, Kuroo began to babble visibly tense, apparently to bridge the uncomfortable silence between them.

"The fact is, I'm a Slytherin by heart and it would be more than tragic if you came out as a Gryffindor, because unfortunately I can't go out with a hostile house."

That was all it took for Tsukishima to snort in disbelief and then to laugh softly, very softly.

Kuroo's suddenly wide eyes and the slight red sheen on his cheeks seemed to indicate that it had been exactly the wrong reaction.

"Kuroo-san, I think I haven't heard so much nonsense at once in my entire life and that means something, I always train together with the two idiots."

Tsukishima could just as easily have talked to a wall, because Kuroo was still staring at him as if enchanted and again wore an absent stupid grin on his face.

" _Wow_ , um I mean, yes, I'm sorry.", The black-haired man mumbled and Tsukishima really had to pull himself together not to laugh again at the perplexed expression on the face the other was wearing.

"But to answer your question - I think I'm a Ravenclaw, so no problems for your conscience."

"Mhm.", Kuroo was still completely absent, but suddenly he blinked confused. "Wait, you say you _“think”_ you're a Ravenclaw, does that mean you have never taken a test?!"

"Um, no?" Tsukishima raised his eyebrows questioningly as Kuroo stared at him for a moment in silence and then suddenly sprinted away in the opposite direction.

"Do you think I'll be able to escape in time as long as he's gone?" Tsukishima mumbled quietly and Yamaguchi next to him, who had obviously more than enjoyed the conversation, shook his head with a grin.

"No, I think _this_ Hogwarts Express has left."

"Do you actually know that I hate you sometimes?"

To say that Kuroo was more than happy when it turned out after a joint test that Tsukishima was a Slytherin would have been the understatement of the century.

Tsukishima still smelled of the infinitely strongly scented happiness hormones of the Alpha throughout the evening and when he fell into his pillow late at night, after another training session in gym 3, the exaggerated grin just couldn't leave his face.


	6. ~ 6 & Epilouge ~

The next two days felt like a frenzy - half of the Karasuno team was woken up by Tsukishima's pheromones early in the morning, at breakfast one could surprisingly often spot the blonde Omega with Yamaguchi at the Nekoma table, the training did not go by without teasing quotes from both sides and teasing looks of the two middle blockers and when the moon rose over Tokyo late at night, you could see an unequal group of four with two Alphas, one Beta and one Omega sitting on the steps of "their" gym and they continued talking until well after midnight.

Nobody really seemed to notice that one Alpha and his Beta always disappeared after a few hours and left the other Alpha alone with the Omega.

Perhaps it was because the Alpha from Nekoma just treated Tsukishima like a normal person and didn't keep mentioning how good he smelled or how intoxicating his hormones were for him, but Tsukishima was soon able to laugh lightly next to the black-haired boy and felt more relaxed than never before.

It sounded weird when he made it clear that he had only known this guy for 6 days and had to leave him the next morning.  
Especially considering they'd spent the first few days baby-stepping and carefully approaching things.

Now Tsukishima could hardly list a day that he had not spent permanently in the presence of the Alpha and he felt so easy to deal with.

When Tsukishima had just had a few bad-tempered minutes again, the other held back with his teasing and gave him the distance he needed.  
On the other hand, should Tsukishima lose motivation for volleyball much too soon, Kuroo would crouch over him and tease Tsukishima until he stood on the court again to hit him with the next balls.

And when Kuroo sat exhausted on the floor after a lost game against Fukurodani, it was enough that Tsukishima walked past him with deliberate steps and ran a finger over Kuroo's shoulders to let the Alpha jump up and call for rematch.

Not to mention the constant jokes and insiders about their favorite films and series.

When Kuroo told Tsukishima that he was a huge Percy Jackson fan, they had spent an entire evening comparing the films and books and picking out their favorite scenes.

After Kuroo had decided for himself that Tsukishima was "definitely a child of Athena" and after a long analysis test he emerged as the son of Hades, it was almost natural for both of them to take half-hearted insults the next day to call out based on this knowledge - much to the amazement of their team members.

How should you explain why Kuroo threw Tsukishima, after a poorly read block of the blonde, a “And that as a child of Athena?! I'm horrified.” to the head.  
Tsukishima's sharp "Hades would ban you to earth." when Kuroo was stopped twice by Asahi, made the black-haired boy laugh out loud. 

All in all, Yamaguchi's smug grin, which was now almost permanently plastered on the Beta’s face, was more than justified and every time their eyes met or Kuroo was not around, Yamaguchi just pointed silently to his “Tsukishima Kei maybe likes an Alpha " list that was now completely filled.  
Tsukishima's suspicion that Yamaguchi was collecting BlackMail material against him didn't seem like a fake idea, but somehow he couldn't be angry with little Beta.  
After all, he owed it in large part to the brutal honesty and persistence of his best friend that he now stalked around with a touch of Kuroo and gave the rest of the Alphas the cold shoulder.

But even the most beautiful time passed and before the teams knew it, the last night before departure came and left everyone with a melancholy feeling.

The barbeque's grills were still glowing slightly in the blackness of the night, while groups of volleyball players had gathered all over the site and enjoyed the last few hours together.  
Yamaguchi crouched next to Kenma, Hinata and Lev and talked animatedly with the blonde player from Nekoma, Bokuto and Akaashi sat cuddling a bit away on a bench and listened to the sound of the cicadas and at the foot of the hill Kuroo and Tsukishima laid side by side and looked silently into the starry sky.

Both were aware that this night was the last chance for them to be alone again and maybe finally to ask the all-important question and yet neither of them said a word.

The thought of saying goodbye was too heavy on their shoulders and if someone had told Tsukishima a year ago that he would lie next to an Alpha in Tokyo and count the hours together with a numb feeling in his stomach, he would have laughed.  
But there he was - after exactly 6 days, 7 hours and 21 minutes he could imagine a damn future with a person he had only met a week ago.  
It was so completely uncharacteristic for him to feel and think something like that, but when he heard Kuroo's calm breathing next to him, the bewitching scent of hormones enveloped him and he thought of Kuroo's challenging grin, Tsukishima couldn't help but still give it another thought.

And maybe this whole Soulmate-thing really did mean something, maybe it made Tsukishima's heart beat a little faster or his smile widened a little bit when he saw the other.

But however their ways got tangled, whoever was to blame - whether it was God or fate, a whim of nature or the call of the wild - Tsukishima was ready to continue going down this path.

And so it was Tsukshima who raised his voice after half an eternity.

"Kuroo-san?"

"Yes Tsukki?"

"What is this between us? What do you want it to be?"  
Again a silence fell over them.  
The black-haired one cleared his throat and mumbled: “I don't know what you want, but I know that I would love to keep you here."

Tsukishima felt the smile on his lips and unconsciously slid a little closer to the Alpha.  
"That's impossible, Kuroo-san.", He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart, "but I think I can come and see you every now and then."

It was almost as if a light had been lit up when Kuroo began to glow with hormones next to him.  
“That would be really great, Tsukki. And I think the way to Sendai isn't that long either. I'm sure that it's worth a visit."  
He said a little more quietly: "Especially when I can visit my partner there."

"Oh? Who would that be, your partner?", Smiled Tsukishima and could hear Kuroo's strained swallowing.

“I was hoping it would be you. In all honesty - unfortunately I can't imagine meeting a Slytherin son of Athena again, who also plays volleyball and turns my head so damn hard that I stay in front of his window with a boom box."

Tsukishima gave a low chuckle and suddenly everything was so easy.  
"Was that now a question of whether I want to be your partner, Kuroo-san?"

The Alpha lifted his head and gave Tsukishima a serious look. “Tsukishima Kei, Moonshine, ice-cold angel -”, the blonde shaked his head, “would you do me the honor and become my boyfriend? If you still need help with the decision, I can get the boom box again."

"Oh God please don't.", Tsukishima laughed and before Kuroo could even say another word, the blonde had leaned forward and pressed his lips to those of the other.

One always told each other the stories of the magical first kiss with the true love and the butterflies that one should feel - some even spoke of fireworks and certainty.  
Total nonsense if someone asked Tsukishima, their first kiss was a lot but not fireworks or butterflies.

It was warm, nervous, with too many teeth and definitely too much tongue, too fast and just damp, but Tsukishima wouldn't want to trade it for anything in the world.  
Because it felt right and when they broke apart after half an eternity, they just sat there and smiled at each other.

It was a week, just one week.

But still it was the start of something really big for Tsukishima and Kuroo.  
And when their lips met again the next morning to say goodbye to the loud roar of their teams, they both promised each other that this week should not be in vain.

They would keep their promise.

Between school and volleyball, heat and ruts, arguments and reconciliation and distance, it was another four years before Kuroo made Tsukishima his mate on the evening of a Sendai Frogs game.

A year later, the wedding bells rang for Tetsurou and Kei Kuroo, Yamaguchi and Bokuto wept throughout the ceremony, and when Tsukishima later had to free his husband from his brother's warning claws, they both realized that the most exciting part of their lives had only just begun.

On December 13th, 1 ½ years after their wedding, the twin boys Fuyuki and Mizuki - names chosen by Yamaguchi, of course - were born.  
Three years later, on April 2nd, they were followed by a girl named Amaya, complementing the small Kuroo family.

And when Kei sat next to his husband with their 13-year-old daughter in the stands of the Tokyo Stadium and they watched their two Alpha sons as they made it to the semi-finals of the national championships with the Nekoma team, the blonde could say with certainty that he was never happier.

It had only been one week, but this week had set a stone in motion that not only had thrown up his quiet Omega life but was also to become the basis for his happiness.

And Tsukishima was damn grateful for that.


End file.
